TCRT
Lead Service Attendant
This is my first trip report, so please let me know if it's not up to your usual standards.
Background
On Friday, August 26th, I received word that I needed to get from Boston to Minneapolis for a funeral on the following Monday. This would already be a somewhat hasty trip under the circumstances, but complicating it this time was the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene on Sunday the 28th, forecast at that point to hit Boston almost head on. As such, I had no choice but to leave Boston immediately on the morning of the 27th to attempt to get out while the airports in the Northeast were still up and running. Unfortunately, a one way flight to Minneapolis on that timeframe was prohibitively expensive (and most connected through another Northeast airport), so I came up with an alternative plan: Fly direct to Milwaukee, which was less than half the cost of flying to Minneapolis, and then take the Empire Builder from Milwaukee to Minneapolis later in the day, thereby saving money and building in an Amtrak trip. This would also require taking the Hiawatha Service 8 miles from the Milwaukee airport to downtown Milwaukee, as the Empire Builder does not stop at MKA.
MKA-MKE, Train 331
My flight arrived early into MKE at 7:50AM or so, and I made it to MKA on the free shuttle bus by about 8:20 after collecting my checked luggage. For those that haven't done it before, this connection is easy to make, but the bus is marked as a parking lot shuttle first and an Amtrak shuttle second, so I could see where it might get a bit confusing – since it was my first time I had to ask the driver to be sure. My early arrival meant I had over an hour to kill at MKA before train 331 was scheduled to arrive at 9:39. Fortunately, MKA sports very pleasing prairie-style architecture and was a very nice place to relax, especially since I had woken up at 3:15AM ET to catch my flight. Train 331, the 8:25AM Hiawatha Service departure from Chicago, rolled in about 5 minutes late, and a very large number of people detrained. Perhaps this is due to the usually cheap airfares at the Milwaukee airport as compared to either Chicago airport. There were only three of us boarding at MKA, so boarding took very little time and we were off to MKE. I was seated in a roughly half full Horizon coach, which was quite comfortable for the very short journey (and far more comfortable than the airline seat I had for my two hour flight, I might add). The crewmembers onboard this train were very pleasant and seemed to know a few regular passengers fairly well.
We made up some time and arrived on time into the very spacious and clean Milwaukee Intermodal Station. For those that haven't done it before, approaching MKE from the south is a nicely urban experience, with the train taking some very sharp curves on numerous bridges positioned between old factory buildings. Prior to this trip, I had only ever transited MKE on the Empire Builder without getting off. Because I had six hours or so to kill in downtown Milwaukee before the Empire Builder was due to arrive at 3:55PM, I wanted to explore the city but did not want to have to carry my luggage around with me. Fortunately I was able to very easily check my bag for train 7 immediately upon arrival into the station despite being six hours early for my departure.
MKE-MSP, Train 7
After successfully wasting several hours exploring Milwaukee (a very nice place to spend a summer day and worth a return trip), I arrived back at the intermodal station to find 15-20 people waiting for the westbound Empire Builder. Train 7 arrived on time and boarding commenced right away in a bit of an unorganized manner, as the station agent attempted to board sleeping car passengers first by simply yelling for them. When none appeared after a while, she boarded coach passengers. Apparently, no one had checked as to whether or not any sleeping car passengers were actually boarding that day. Train 7's conductor, however, was quite efficient at directing passengers to the proper car. I snagged a window seat in the 713 coach and was quickly joined by a woman travelling to La Crosse, WI.
The Empire Builder left MKE on time and preceded to run almost precisely on time all the way to MSP, with the only exception being a ten minute late arrival into Red Wing. I spent a fair amount of time in the Sightseer Lounge, though at first the car was completely full with no empty chairs whatsoever (that's ok, I was happy to see the high ridership despite the problems this train has had all summer). Once I did snag a seat I had some dinner (microwaved Amtrak pizza, which was passable but not outstanding, and a Sierra Nevada, which was outstanding) and attempted to take some photos of the midwestern scenery (which mostly failed due to glare from the SSL's curved windows). While I was in the café I noticed our eastbound counterpart speed by running about five hours late with a BNSF locomotive in the consist despite being on a CP line at that point. My guess is that Amtrak sadly had to deal with a lot of missed connections that day.
The ride across Wisconsin and Minnesota on a beautiful summer evening proved to be a nice end to a very long day. I would argue this is one of Amtrak's most scenic routes in the Midwest, including river bluffs, a fairly long tunnel (just east of Tomah), and rolling farmland. The ride up the Mississippi River from LaCrosse to Red Wing is always a highlight (note: sit on the right side of the train), but because the train was on time that evening, we were treated to a spectacular sunset over the river bluffs between LaCrosse and Winona. One of the onboard crewmembers was even kind enough to pick up the PA and remind us that the sunset was included in our fare and therefore free to all passengers!
Arrival into MSP was, as mentioned, spot on time, and a large number of passengers were waiting to board. I managed to get my checked luggage within a few minutes and get on my way rather quickly, little more than 24 hours since getting word that I needed to leave town.
Throughout this trip I was extremely impressed by Amtrak's ability to get me to my destination on less than 24 hours notice for a very reasonable price, and it proved very relaxing to have a 6.5 hour train ride after my hectic early morning scramble to get out of the East Coast. Furthermore, both trains ran essentially dead on time, and all employees I encountered were very competent and pleasant to interact with. Nice work Amtrak, and I'll definitely consider using the Midwest services more often even if, like this time, it's not a leisure trip.
Background
On Friday, August 26th, I received word that I needed to get from Boston to Minneapolis for a funeral on the following Monday. This would already be a somewhat hasty trip under the circumstances, but complicating it this time was the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene on Sunday the 28th, forecast at that point to hit Boston almost head on. As such, I had no choice but to leave Boston immediately on the morning of the 27th to attempt to get out while the airports in the Northeast were still up and running. Unfortunately, a one way flight to Minneapolis on that timeframe was prohibitively expensive (and most connected through another Northeast airport), so I came up with an alternative plan: Fly direct to Milwaukee, which was less than half the cost of flying to Minneapolis, and then take the Empire Builder from Milwaukee to Minneapolis later in the day, thereby saving money and building in an Amtrak trip. This would also require taking the Hiawatha Service 8 miles from the Milwaukee airport to downtown Milwaukee, as the Empire Builder does not stop at MKA.
MKA-MKE, Train 331
My flight arrived early into MKE at 7:50AM or so, and I made it to MKA on the free shuttle bus by about 8:20 after collecting my checked luggage. For those that haven't done it before, this connection is easy to make, but the bus is marked as a parking lot shuttle first and an Amtrak shuttle second, so I could see where it might get a bit confusing – since it was my first time I had to ask the driver to be sure. My early arrival meant I had over an hour to kill at MKA before train 331 was scheduled to arrive at 9:39. Fortunately, MKA sports very pleasing prairie-style architecture and was a very nice place to relax, especially since I had woken up at 3:15AM ET to catch my flight. Train 331, the 8:25AM Hiawatha Service departure from Chicago, rolled in about 5 minutes late, and a very large number of people detrained. Perhaps this is due to the usually cheap airfares at the Milwaukee airport as compared to either Chicago airport. There were only three of us boarding at MKA, so boarding took very little time and we were off to MKE. I was seated in a roughly half full Horizon coach, which was quite comfortable for the very short journey (and far more comfortable than the airline seat I had for my two hour flight, I might add). The crewmembers onboard this train were very pleasant and seemed to know a few regular passengers fairly well.
We made up some time and arrived on time into the very spacious and clean Milwaukee Intermodal Station. For those that haven't done it before, approaching MKE from the south is a nicely urban experience, with the train taking some very sharp curves on numerous bridges positioned between old factory buildings. Prior to this trip, I had only ever transited MKE on the Empire Builder without getting off. Because I had six hours or so to kill in downtown Milwaukee before the Empire Builder was due to arrive at 3:55PM, I wanted to explore the city but did not want to have to carry my luggage around with me. Fortunately I was able to very easily check my bag for train 7 immediately upon arrival into the station despite being six hours early for my departure.
MKE-MSP, Train 7
After successfully wasting several hours exploring Milwaukee (a very nice place to spend a summer day and worth a return trip), I arrived back at the intermodal station to find 15-20 people waiting for the westbound Empire Builder. Train 7 arrived on time and boarding commenced right away in a bit of an unorganized manner, as the station agent attempted to board sleeping car passengers first by simply yelling for them. When none appeared after a while, she boarded coach passengers. Apparently, no one had checked as to whether or not any sleeping car passengers were actually boarding that day. Train 7's conductor, however, was quite efficient at directing passengers to the proper car. I snagged a window seat in the 713 coach and was quickly joined by a woman travelling to La Crosse, WI.
The Empire Builder left MKE on time and preceded to run almost precisely on time all the way to MSP, with the only exception being a ten minute late arrival into Red Wing. I spent a fair amount of time in the Sightseer Lounge, though at first the car was completely full with no empty chairs whatsoever (that's ok, I was happy to see the high ridership despite the problems this train has had all summer). Once I did snag a seat I had some dinner (microwaved Amtrak pizza, which was passable but not outstanding, and a Sierra Nevada, which was outstanding) and attempted to take some photos of the midwestern scenery (which mostly failed due to glare from the SSL's curved windows). While I was in the café I noticed our eastbound counterpart speed by running about five hours late with a BNSF locomotive in the consist despite being on a CP line at that point. My guess is that Amtrak sadly had to deal with a lot of missed connections that day.
The ride across Wisconsin and Minnesota on a beautiful summer evening proved to be a nice end to a very long day. I would argue this is one of Amtrak's most scenic routes in the Midwest, including river bluffs, a fairly long tunnel (just east of Tomah), and rolling farmland. The ride up the Mississippi River from LaCrosse to Red Wing is always a highlight (note: sit on the right side of the train), but because the train was on time that evening, we were treated to a spectacular sunset over the river bluffs between LaCrosse and Winona. One of the onboard crewmembers was even kind enough to pick up the PA and remind us that the sunset was included in our fare and therefore free to all passengers!
Arrival into MSP was, as mentioned, spot on time, and a large number of passengers were waiting to board. I managed to get my checked luggage within a few minutes and get on my way rather quickly, little more than 24 hours since getting word that I needed to leave town.
Throughout this trip I was extremely impressed by Amtrak's ability to get me to my destination on less than 24 hours notice for a very reasonable price, and it proved very relaxing to have a 6.5 hour train ride after my hectic early morning scramble to get out of the East Coast. Furthermore, both trains ran essentially dead on time, and all employees I encountered were very competent and pleasant to interact with. Nice work Amtrak, and I'll definitely consider using the Midwest services more often even if, like this time, it's not a leisure trip.
